Sunday, March 18, 2012

Last Day's 2011-12 Hunting with the OFH...

(A click on any picture expands it.)

Our last official day was as usual well attended. Look at that foul weather, it was like 70 degrees.


"Am I not handsome in my spiffy new saddle cover?"

So off we go. Trucking along was the Newnan Siren's mother, not a hunter herself but very interested. Last time she visited hounds caught a coyote though, and you know how stupidstitious we are. So as we are driving along during the first draw, she says, "What's that in that field?"


Yep...
Now we were on a road maybe 175 yards away from the critter. And he just looked at us. Sauntered away a bit,
Then had a sit down.
Walk a little farther.

Sit down again.
Hmm.
He moved a couple or three hundred yards, parallel to the road. Never broke into a trot, you could tell he was trying to figure out if we were an immediate problem or just a potential one.

Unfortunately...
Hounds were brought along and laid on his line. "Poor scent" in action, they did nothing at first.

This is to me a rather remarkable picture. The camera lacks enough detail to pick it up, but the coyote is still in the frame with the hounds, about as far from the left edge of the picture as the white hound is from the right, and still just standing there. Run, dufus, your life is about to become too interesting...

And lock on they did. He put on the speed,
ran a couple of loops, but not quite enough on this plough.
Time for a drink!

And off after number two.
Around to the south, and out popped two!
Hounds right on...


And the field, who stopped here as the furry target circled around.

And back in reverse!

He was fortunate and escaped despite hounds' efforts in the heat.

Next year!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What's the difference between red coat/black coat?

staghounds said...

With this pack, two classes of people wear red coats. Masters and professional male hunt staff wear red on formal days, as do gentlemen subscribers who have been awarded the hunt's livery after some combination of long membership, good conduct, and value to the hunt.

The idea is that if a red coat is seen in the distance, it's someone working the hounds and a good place to look to see what the action is. If you see one up close, it's someone who knows what is going on.

The whole subject of hunting dress is a bit random and complicated. With some packs female staff wear red and female Masters don't. Others are red on staff only. And so forth.

Any time you'd like to see hunting live, let me know and I will hook you up.